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Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

As the boat gets going Shishe crawls up into the boat from the back near where Kayl is standing, much to his annoyance. The craft is partially waterlogged, and would probably be entirely submerged if not for Jimmy given the damage.

As it is things are pretty damp. Jane is entirely soaked and the water is bitterly cold, although this is entirely due to Jennifer's efforts to build up ice near the hole. Though as iice chunks rattle around the boat she keeps saying "I'm trying I'm trying! The ice just keeps coming out of the hole!!!!"

Kayl is obviously having great difficulty managing the ship in its current state, and without the outrigger he continually almost tips the thing over. He's mumbling in his native language as he lurches back and forth, he isn't using his ability to translate the words, but Jimmy gets the feeling he could guess the sort of language he's using.

As the boat gets closer to the hurricane the waves get choppier, however the wind also picks up, allowing the speed of the boat to increase. The front lifts out of the water a bit which helps. Kayl is looking almost behind the boat. Staring across the island that was his home for so long.

And then a disrupted gap in the hurricane starts coming around from the side of the island, traveling with the hurricane in the direction of the boat.

<NOW!> He thinks and he turns the simple rudder of the craft towards the eyewall. The boat continues to pick up speed, and Kaname has gotten her wits back together and is bailing the boat using her clothing. The craft keeps picking up speed and soon reaches where the eyewall would be except that you're entering the gap.

The boat moves swiftly. Through the gap you can see the sunlight of day not too many meters away. However the hurricane is moving swiftly and soon the winds pick up again. There is screaming in Jimmy's ears as the wind increases and the ship lurches to the side.

Using his ability to the utmost Jimmy suddenly realizes things feel different. The boat isn't hitting waves anymore. The sail is acting like a wing and the entire boat has lifted out of the water. Inside the wall of wind visibility is to low to tell what's going on, and lighting courses entirely too close, raising the hair on Jimmies neck.

And then the craft is thrown clear of the hurricane my momentum and centrifugal force. The beatiful sun drenched islands that make up the rest of the Hawaiian chain some into view...as does a helicopter.

It looks like it migh belong to the military and the ship maybe twenty meeters away from them, and at the same altitude. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion as Jimmy looks over into the cockpit, seeing the shocked expressions of the chopper pilot and a couple of people leaning out of the cargo door as they stare back at Jimmy as he and his ship zip by. Looking over his other shoulder Jimmy realizes the ship is sideways with the sail still acting a bit like a wing, and maybe a good fifty feet above the clear waters below.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: Alright, I still haven't been able to get ahold of Hollow and it's time to get you off the island. Hopefully this meets your approval. Maru, if you have something you'd like me to change regarding Chloe let me know. And of course you both are free to post a response to this or start on epiloges.

IC:

Chloe and Azrael stay huddled in the bushes. Chloe rests a hand caringly on her lover-turn-wolf spirit’s back as he describes what he’s seen scouting the area. A human like voice similar to the one he once had strangely coming from his toothy mouth.

Azrael had always been a man of action and he wants to do something. However Chloe is used to being careful and focused on details, and makes him go over things with greater elaboration a number of times.

She pauses after making Azrael describe the scene with the undead man stranded in a boat for the third time, and then she says, with an excited whisper, “I bet he was making his escape when he was killed! That’s why the stab wound goes through the back of the pilots chair; he had gotten his boat untied and was about to head out when one of the native warriors put a spear through his back. We don’t have to try to break into the room with the keys and figure out which one goes with which boat, we just have to get to that boat. Though we should make sure as much as we can first, hold on I’m going to try and climb this tree to get a better look. Here, give me a boost. “

Chloe steps once on Azrael’s strong back, and is then easily climbing up the branches however upon getting to the top she can barely make out the guy in the boat, much less anything about it. Climbing back down she says “Sorry, I can’t see things that far away very well. You said that you can see extremely well now right? Let’s see if we can’t get you up here.”

The process of getting Azrael up into the tree was much less graceful than when Chloe did it, but with enough shoving and some jumping Azrael becomes the first wolf to climb so high in a tree. Once up there he stares at the boat, looking around at the controls. It’s hard for him to see, but in a particularly bright flash of lightning he spots a glint coming from something dangling from where he thinks the keys should go. He makes his way roughly back down and says.

“You were right! I’m pretty sure I can see a key ring in the ignition! But how do we get there? I might be able to distract them long enough in combat for you to swim to the boat.”

Chloe shakes her head. “I lost you once; I’m not losing you again. Plus that could be very prone to failure. Let me think.” A minute or so passes, with Azrael becoming increasingly uncomfortable. He can’t shake a growing feeling that something is going to happen on this island soon, and they need to get away. He was about to insist on his plan when Chloe says.

“Ok. Let’s get going. Here’s the plan. We got to the beach a little ways away and cover ourselves with flotsam, jetsam, seaweed, whatever we can find and then swim out and around toward the boat. Then we “drift” into the boat. Hopefully we won’t be noticed until we pull ourselves aboard and then we’ll be able to get out before the natives can do anything about it. “
Azrael replied “I’m a bit worried about how long that will take, but that sounds like a good idea, let’s do it.

The swimming part of the operation took what felt like a long time, however Chloe’s plan worked out smoothly. The waves made the drifting in portion of it rather quick, and, even though he was dead, the undead man in the boat seemed surprised when Azrael surged out of the water, bit into his arm, hurled him overboard with a twist, and then spit his arm after him. Chloe didn’t have a lot of experience with boats, but she’d paid attention when others had piloted and there were pictoral instructions on the boat. Soon the motor was revving and they were racing away from the dock as natives futilely ran on the water after them and threw spears that fell far short.

The engine was loud, so Chloe had to shout to Azrael as they raced toward the storm. “Ok. So there are those occasional breaks in the wall of wind. This thing goes pretty fast, so I think we just need to watch for a break to appear, and then shoot through it.”

As Chloe was speaking she just had the sound of the front of the boat taking damage to catch her attention. Instinctively she ducked down as a huge muscly creature that had leapt out of the water slides over the bow and the pilot’s station, smashing the windscreen. The thing looks like a huge Oceanic White tip shark…but it has powerfully muscled human like arms and legs in addition to its tail. It slides around and stands behind Chloe, giving a toothy smile as it reaches down to grab her.

Chloe screams while Azrael lets out an enraged howl and lunges at the thing. The creature seems to have not known Azrael was there, maybe because he doesn’t stand very tall now, but he notices Azrael now as Azrael clamps onto where the creatures throat would be if it were more human and starts wrenching his head around, tearing out flesh. However the shark creature grabs Azrael in his clawed hands, puncturing Azrael's lungs and tearing Azrael off him, then hurling him hard onto the deck of the boat, though Azrael took a large chunk of the creatures flesh with him. As the creature moves in towards Azrael Chloe screams “NO!” and shoves the creature from the side. She isn’t anywhere near as strong as it is, but on a bobbing and wet boat it only had to stumble a foot back before it tripped over the side of the speeding boat, falling onto the water.

Azrael gasps and coughs up some blood while Chloe kneels down and hugs him. However he says “Steer the boat. This…hurts…but I don’t think I’m actually dying. For all I know I can’t die again. Just.. Just get us out of here. “

Chloe looks worried, but then she steels her will and puts on her “lawyer face” and gets back to the controls of the veering boat. Soon she has to tracking along sideways to the storm and as a gap swirls along she turns the boat hard to port and tries to zip through it. They don’t make it all the way through before winds and lightning surround them. However after a few horrifying moment being thrown in the storm and hearing a lightning strike they are tossed out of the storm, into a beautiful day in the ocean near the Hawaiian island, though the lightning strike seems to have caused an engine fire.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: I really hope this is okay...

"I'm really sorry, but there's really not much more I can do," Jessica said, rising to her feet, leaving the injured woman to be tended to by her daughter. "Just try and keep her comfortable."
The girl, who looked to be about the same age as Mana and Jessica, smiled wanly up at Jessica, who patted her on the shoulder, before turning her attention back to her mother.

Jessica looked sadly around the plane. She felt so tired.
"You did well," Nicole said softly to Jessica.
"I don't think she's gonna make it," Jessica murmured dejectedly. Nicole opened her mouth to say something, but after a moment she closed it and gave her daughter's arm a gentle squeeze.
"Gods! I need to snap out of it," Jessica said, "This is nothing compared to what Mana must be feeling. Where did they go, anyway?"
"Over there," Nicole pointed out.

Mana was standing just outside the cockpit in what seemed to be a heated conversation with Liko. She kept shaking her head furiously at him. Kapella stood nearby trying, simultaneously, to placate both parties and keep an eye on Fee
"No," they heard Mana say as they came within earshot, "I don't need any 'overseeing'. Do you even know anything about planes? Or flying? Do you even lift??"
"What??" Liko spluttered as Jessica snorted behind him. "What does that have to do with anything? You're just a kid. People will feel better with a man in charge."
Mana gave him her best scathing look and said, "You'll just be in the way. I don't need some newbie blundering around when I need to- Mom, DON'T touch that- concentrate. Especially when I already have the best support team."
Oh, yeah?" Liko asked with a sneer, "Where?"
Mana reached out and grabbed Jessica's hand while gesturing to Nicole and Yuki with the other.
"Here."
Jessica squeezed Mana's hand tightly.
"Great. Another kid," Liko replied sarcastically, "And your moms. One of who you just told off."
"People that I can trust," Mana corrected him, "With my life. And THEY trust ME enough to do what I ask without asking stupid questions every other second."
"Damn straight," Jessica said with a smile.
"And your mom?" Liko questioned.
"Moral support," Mana answered promptly, "And she's not as silly as she makes herself out to be."
"If thinking I'm a moron gives people something to feel smug about, then why should I disillusion them?" Yuki quoted.
All four girls giggled.
"Just let it go, Liko," Kapella said, finally speaking up. "I trust Mana too."
Liko glared around at all of them before stalking off, looking extremely disgruntled and muttering something about "lesbians" and "stupid kids".

"Everything good to go?" Nicole asked.
"Kara and her friend are doing a damage report on the plane. They should be done soon," Mana replied. "If there's nothing wrong, we're good to go."
"What is happening with seating?" Jessica asked, glancing around at the bickering occupants of the plane.
"Injured and elderly people go in seats, everyone else can sit in the aisles. At this point in time, we can't really be worrying about all the safety regulations," Mana said shortly. All the furtive glances were getting on her nerves. And although she understood everyone's worry, she really wished they would all just stop. She also wished they would stop with all the arguing. As Mana began to rub her pounding temples, a voice rang out over the intercom.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please be quiet for a moment. We have an announcement from our captain."
Mana, Jessica, and Nicole all turned to stare at Yuki, who was speaking into the microphone. She proffered it to Mana, now the center of attention, as an expectant hush fell over the cabin. Mana took it hesitantly.
"Uhh... Hi, everyone. My name is Mana, and I suppose I'll be your captain for the duration of this flight," she began.
"You suppose-" someone in the back started to say, but they quickly shut their mouth when they found themselves on the receiving end of one of Jessica's death-glares.
"I know some...well, ALL of you have your doubts about my flying abilities. And to be perfectly frank, I don't blame you. I won't lie. Yes, I am a pilot, but I've never actually flown a plane of this size before and I can't guarantee that everything will go smoothly. BUT," Mana added vehemently, "I promise that I WILL get this plane away from this island or die trying."
Mana paused to glance at Jessica, Yuki, and Nicole.
"Wow, that was sappy," she said, half to herself.
"Just a bit," Jessica agreed.
There was a low murmur of voices as people began expressing concern amongst themselves.
"Oh, and another thing!" Mana called out, just a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Keep in mind that no one is forcing you to come with us. If you can't trust me and think that you have some better way of escaping then, by all means, go ahead and do that. I WILL NOT have someone complaining at me and acting like I'm somehow obliged to save you when you can't take responsibility for yourself."
"Like his royal doucheiness, army dude," Jessica agreed, solemnly nodding her head.
"Don't remind me," Mana said with a shudder. "But as I was saying. You have problem, door that way."
There was another quiet rumble of voices as Mana gestured towards the door, but nobody moved.
"Alrighty, then," Mana said, her voice now brisk, "Now if you don't mind, I have a few other requests. Mainly that you all stop bickering like a bunch of old married couples. For one, it is extremely annoying. And two, it's really unnecessary. I understand that everyone's nerves are frazzled. Zombie apocalypses tend to do that to people. But can we PLEASE maintain our decency?
"Next; Seating arrangements. The ride will most likely be bumpy, so if we could get the injured, really elderly, and really young into seats first, that would be great. If there are seats left over, we will be civil and draw straws or something. Kapella? If you and Fee could oversee that, it would be wonderful. Michael? Wher- Oh! There you are! Can you help them too?
"Now all we need is-" Mana paused as she spotted Kara and Luna waving at her from across the plane.
Kara grinned and gave her the thumbs up.
"Alright, peoples," Mana announced, "We've been green lighted for takeoff. Let's break legs and get this show on the road. Or...up in the air."
"Effed up on life. All of the laws I've broken, loves that I've sacrificed..." Jessica sang, her voice so low that only Mana could hear.
"And this is why I love you," Mana said as she linked arms with her best friend and led the small group into the cockpit.

OOC: sunny, I'm currently working on the next bit. Sorry for being so slow. >_<

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: sunny, I'm currently working on the next bit. Sorry for being so slow. >_<

OOC: Worth the wait! I quite enjoy your posts. I'm also impressed you remembered Hax's character after all this time.

Actually your bit with the song there made me nostalgic. When I was thinking about running a sequel to Magic Mixer my plan was to have it set a year after the events in the game thread, and because of:http://www.animeforum.com/showthread...=1#post2318687
I was hoping I could open the thread with your character doing "Seasons of Love." Ah well. Sad that most people who would have appreciated a sequel to that are long gone.

Anyway I take it by your phrasing that you're looking to finish this up as a continuation of what you just wrote as opposed to looking for me to make an IC reply, yes? I'll await your reply and work on a post to get the last group out of the island so I can move into epilogue space, unless they can post something first @Esiphas .

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

Originally Posted by sunnyside

OOC: Worth the wait! I quite enjoy your posts. I'm also impressed you remembered Hax's character after all this time.

Actually your bit with the song there made me nostalgic. When I was thinking about running a sequel to Magic Mixer my plan was to have it set a year after the events in the game thread, and because of:http://www.animeforum.com/showthread...=1#post2318687
I was hoping I could open the thread with your character doing "Seasons of Love." Ah well. Sad that most people who would have appreciated a sequel to that are long gone.

Anyway I take it by your phrasing that you're looking to finish this up as a continuation of what you just wrote as opposed to looking for me to make an IC reply, yes? I'll await your reply and work on a post to get the last group out of the island so I can move into epilogue space, unless they can post something first @Esiphas .

OOC: Sorry sunny, I know you wanted to finish this before the New Year (and so did I), but then New Years happened and I found myself rather caught up in it. I'm really sorry, and I'll try to have the next bit up within the next few days. >_<

Awww, I'd totally be up for a Magic Mixer sequel. I really miss writing for Madison and annoying the hell out of Samael. =P

*edit*

IC

Takeoff had gone (relatively) smoothly, with only a few bumps (and quite a bit of swearing, mostly from Kapella and Liko). It was the hurricane that Mana was worried about. The plane circled the island once more.
"People are starting to get antsy," Kapella reported over the intercom.
"Tell them to look out their damn windows!" Mana hissed back. "THEY might not mind flying into a hurricane, but I, for one, am really not in the mood to die."
"You know people," came Michael's voice. "They don't listen to reason or logic. They just want."
Mana sighed. "Listen guys, I'm trying. Okay? There have been cracks in the hurricane. I saw them when we were still on the ground. But I haven't seen one since we got up here. The first one I see, I will make a break for."
"Alright," Kapella said. "We'll try and get people to calm down." "
Hang in there, Mana!" Michael added.
"Cheers, Michael," Mana said, a reluctant smile creeping over her lips.
"He's a good kid," Jessica said after Mana switched the intercom off. "Really weird, but good."
"Yuki? Are you okay?" Nicole asked her friend who was looking sadly out of a window, down at the island.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just being silly," Yuki replied, quickly brushing away a stray tear. "It's just... We've lived here for so long. I wonder if we'll ever be able to come back."
"Twenty years is a long time," Nicole agreed sadly.
Mana had just turned in her seat to comfort her mother when a streak of blue appeared in the wall of the hurricane before them.
"Sorry, mom. We'll just have to the reminiscing thing later," she told Yuki apologetically, switching the intercom back online.

"Umm, hi again," Mana's voice drifted over the speakers. "This is your captain speaking."
Jessica giggled in the background.
"Shut up, Jess," Mana said, suppressing her own laughter. "Anyway! We've found a opening in the in the storm, and we are going to try to maneuver our way through it. I will take every precaution, but there will most likely be a load of turbulence. So, for the safety of everyone around you and not just your own, it would be great if everyone who isn't already buckled up could strap themselves down. ESPECIALLY you, Jess. Don't make me remind you what happened the last time you didn't wear your seatbelt."
Jessica mumbled something unintelligible in the background before Mana laughed and continued speaking.
"I know I've only just met a lot of you. And most of you are probably just here because you have no other option, but I would like to thank you all for trusting me with your lives. Quite literally. And again, I promise that I will do my best to get us all out of here in one piece. But if it makes you feel any better, you are more than welcome to pray to whatever gods you believe in to help us out. Mainly you, Fee.
"It has been one hell of a day, and we are all in dire need of a shower and a good night's sleep, and I have had it with the bleeping zombies on this bleeping island, so let's get the hell out of here. I'll see you all on the other side."
The speakers went dead for a moment before crackling back to life and Mana added, "And just for the record, there are no snakes on the plane."
And after another pause, "And Jess and I aren't lesbians."

"Did you have to add the bit about lesbians, Mana?" Nicole asked wryly.
"I have stress," Mana answered defensively. "Imagining Liko's irked face helps me with it. But alright, let's get back into serious mode. That storm looks rather nasty."
Mana took a deep, steadying breath and began to steer the plane towards the small patch of blue in the wall of swirling black and gray.

OOC:
sunny, can I leave the actual flying bit up to you? I'm terrible at action scenes.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: oop. I'm glad I just happened to check this thead intending to leave a little message. The forum doesn't bump the thread for edits so I didn't realize you'd written something until I just happened to glance at your post. At least it doesn't look like I've made you wait long.

IC:

Mana’s eyes narrow as she focuses on the unstable break in the eyewall. She doesn’t even notice the chatter in the back of the plane, although Jessica picks up enough words to gather that people are gossiping about some of Mana’s recent statements over the intercom. Still, at least that seems to have calmed them down a bit, maybe they’re deliberately trying to distract themselves from the possibility of their imminent demise.

Mana’s concentration is broken by Michael suddenly shouting out causing everybody in the cockpit to jump. He guilty says “Sorry, sorry, I was looking out the window at a boat with people in it going for the eyewall. This humanoid shark thing just freaking jumped out of the water onto it and… Jesus God! There’s blood everywhere! Oh I’m glad we’re in an airplane! Sorry sorry, I’ll let you concentrate.

Sorry.

Sorry.”

Mana snaps her attention back to the eyewall. With the throttles up the De Havilland 8 is accelerating past 500 Km/hour and everything is happening very very fast as Mana struggles with the controls to correct the passenger plane's path as she aims for the gap.

People start screaming as Mana is forced to heavily bank the plane to keep in alignment at the moving target. Some people in the isles fall onto people in the seats, however the g forces keep Mana situated in her seat. (OOC: Almost had a bad roll there, but you don’t even need to spend Karma).

And then suddenly they’re in the gap and there is a deafening boom as lightning strikes the aircraft. There is a glow all around, but the plane’s skin seems to do its job of conducting the electricity away.

There is a jolt of turbulence…and then there is sunlight everywhere as the speed of the plane gets through the hundreds of yards of the eyewall in a mere couple seconds.

Mana works the controls to counter the jostling from the turbulence…and the thing stabilizes.

There is a moment of silence in the aircraft and then Kapella says “You know, after the way everything ☠☣✩☹ing thing has gone I thought for certain the top of the plane was going to get ripped off and we’d all be hanging onto each other to avoid getting sucked out. “

And then there is just cheering.

At that point the plane is buffeted by a fighter jet shooting by. The radio comes to life in the cockpit and a stern voice says. “Attention aircraft that just left Lanai. Please identify yourself and divert course to Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam and prepare to land. Repeat, aircraft that just left Lanai. Please IMMEDIATELY, identify yourself and divert course to Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam and prepare to land!!! “

OOC:
I’ll let you land the thing. The military is just rather paranoid about what might be coming out of that hurricane. But unless you take evasive maneuvers or something they aren’t going to shoot you down, and aside from having a few assault rifles shoved in your face upon landing as they make sure you aren't threats there isn’t much trouble on the ground either, and they’re actually very well equipped to handle injuries.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: Hope you don’t mind, but I do want to wrap this up and don’t want to leave your group just hanging. I’m still hoping to get something out of you in terms of an epilogue.

IC;
Holly hesitated a bit as Raymone charges through the door, unsure what to do. However after a moment Holly feels her legs partially pushed along and Petani thinking <He’s trying to get away! To do that regeneration thing again! And then he’ll be back! We gotta get him.>

Once in motion Holly’s training started taking over. Gracefully she jumps up onto a table, leaps up, whips out a spirit whip around the bannister above to pull herself up and then she hits the ground running on the floor she had been hurled from.

In a few moments she rushes through the door, looking around to see what Raymone might have gone.

A fraction of a second too late she sees him, falling on her from above swinging a chunk of the ship. Holly starts to jump back, somewhat lessening the impact but that also makes the impact hurl her back further. She sails for a moment through the wreckage of the centrum where at the start of all this she’d hung on for dear life as part of the upper part of the ship she had been on had twisted around and torn a gash nearer to the front of the ship. In this area of swaying wreckage and odd angles Holly doesn’t land overly gracefully and rolls along what was once a ceiling and falls onto the edge of what had been the floor…and lays there.

Raymone takes a few leaps to get there but soon he’s on the same level as Holly’s still form. Stepping closer he twists the rectangular piece of metal into a semi circle and slams it down over Holly’s torso, pinning down her arms.

He leans in close and licks her face. “Heh, Anybody there or are you already brain dead? “

Holly doesn’t move or open her eyes.

“Well I guess nobodies home. I should probably get back to rounding up the other girls. But I guess maybe I have time to enjoy myself a bit before finishing you off.” And then he reached down and starts tearing with his claws at what remains of Holly’s skirt.

But he looks up quickly as he hears a voice he doesn’t recognize yell “BASTARD”. Holly is still lying unconscious, however Petani has partially twisted her own ghostly face out of Holly’s with the two connecting at the neck.
Before Raymone can react Petani’s ghostly arm passes straight through the metal holding it down, leaving a trail of frost, but as she pushes the arm into Raymone it surgest with power and heat, drawing on the power Holly had acquired for just exactly this purpose. The already injured Raymone attempts to leap up but he slams into the twisted wreckage above and falls down on top of Holly, “impaling” himself on the red hot arm thrust through him.

Petani isn’t able to form any words of her own, she just screams as she cooks Raymone a sound of anger and fear and hurt. She keeps on screaming until Raymone goes from cooking to burning.

And then, her emotions spent, she seems to get sucked back into Holly, vanishing once more.

…

Time passes and eventually Holly groans and opens her eyes, realizing that she’s been woken up by someone calling her name. A weak smile crosses her face as she realizes it’s Guy! He must have gotten better. In reply she yells “Down here” as loud as she can. Things are still fuzzy, and Holly thinks she must have passed out again for a moment, but soon she’s brought back to reality by Guy, Richard, and Niu working together to roll Raymone off of her. Each of them getting some whacks into the corpse to make sure he’s good and dead.

Everything spins as they get the metal off of her and help her up. She hears Richard say something about a concussion and Niu say something about some of the women Raymone had chained up telling them which way they’d gone.

Things are fuzzy in Holly’s memory after that. Disjointed scenes as she falls in an out of consciousness. With people trying to keep her awake and focused. She remembers moving with a bunch of people. Some, including some undead, that she hadn’t met before. Holly stared at them for a while. Richard, who was helping her along introduces them as Jillia, Cassie, and Abigail and starts explaining their story, but Holly is soon out of it again, and is brought back by Guy sending a surge of wind around all of them, pushing a bunch of shambling undead over a railing.

And then there are more people, the actors from before and the people from engineering. And then there is a feeling of sea sickness as some of the actors try to slap Holly awake but then Guy is yelling something about the welds in the bottom of the boat holding, so they don’t need to be so ruff.

Then there is a memory of Guy holding onto Holly, as they look up at Richard, standing on the top of the life boat they’ve been using with his arms spread out. The sea sickness is gone as the boat smoothly moves forward. In her confused state Holly just manages to piece together that he must be using his ability. Looking around she realizes that the boat is “surfing” on a wave formed behind it, moving swiftly towards the eyewall, which as a gap of beautiful sunlight twisting around.

There is some jostling, and then the next thing Holly remembers is waking up…in what looks to be a hospital room.

OOC: In anyone would like to reply to this post, perhaps your character could be visiting Holly in the hospital?

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: Alright, I think it's time to wrap this phase of the game up. I'll let people elaborate on or leave out the bits immediately after clearing the electrified hurricane as part of their epilogues.

IC:

News reports hard started to trickle out of the state of Hawaii as reporters first contacted some of the survivors, and it wasn't long before there was talking in Washington of increasingly drastic measures to deal with it.

But there wasn't that much time remaining to take action. TV screens across the nation cut to a live feed of the lightning filled wall of wind around the island suddenly convulsing and pulling inward, it formed a strange facelike shape, like something on a Tiki style statue forms briefly, but then is replaced by a foggy shape of a more normal looking Hawaiian man, in dark black as smoke pours up from the volcano at the center of the island, wearing what looks like some sort of ceremonial headpiece with feathers on it, it is a bit hard to make out with his form being shown in ash and smoke.

He says, in a voice made from the wind and volcano "I am Kaleo, descendant of the great chief Pili-kaaiea, and high kahuna of the ancient gods of this land! The land of my people, before it was taken from us! Now, we have taken it back, you will notice waterspouts have formed off the coasts of San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles . I am all that is holding them back. If there is an attempt to steal this land once again, destruction will fall upon them and more. Do not even think that killing me would stop this, as you will learn, death is no longer what you understand it to be on this island. I am afraid all those who were not native on this island have died as you know them, but they exist still, and will be treated well, if you respect my new kingdom! We shall establish communications, do not dare approach unbidden lest your people suffer our ancient wrath!"

And at that the face vanishes.

But, as the camera's showed, there were indeed massive twisting storms along the western US seaboard.

A ghost, Sora, was especially vocal. Going on TV and telling how she was the first victim of Kaleo, and that he was really just a loser, a drunkard, who followed her home and shamelessly killed her, just happening to attract the attention of the old Hawaiian god of the underworld. He then sought out to torture and kill others for power.

The new nation of "Lanai" becomes something of a pariah state. Though it gets some recognition from Russia and China and resonates slightly with various native populations among the world, and it begins some trade.

In many ways this was a distressing time for the world. The US in particular. The one bright spot was the survivors. Some of them receiving special thanks from Sora for helping her, for disrupting the ritual enough to weaken the wall of wind, for rescuing her friend, and for getting the two of them off the island along with others.

But the survivors were all sought out. Some had incredible supernatural abilities, some had come back from the dead, but they all had amazing tales...if they would tell them.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

Chloe stood in the doorway of her home and took in a deep breath before closing the door behind her for good. Theres no way a small apartment would let her keep a large tiger with her. It was alright though, after the whole ordeal she wanted away from the city, from the masses of people. She wanted something quiet, peaceful.

She had purchased a farm for her and Azrael to stay at. She had made more than enough money as a lawyer to live off of, and given her....new abilities, she could probably make a living helping the police with missing persons and the like. Her drive out was a quiet one, and she found herself smiling when she pulled up, watching Azrael laying out in the sun.

"All done." she yelled out as she brought in the last few items she picked up. "All moved out." she said to herself with a happy sigh as she looked over the old farm and land, plenty for Azrael to run around and enjoy himself with. She knew word in the nearby small town probably already spread about her and her large lion, but she was ok with that. She was sure that it meant no one would try to come and bother her. It was going to be a nice, quiet, peaceful life for her, and she was very much looking forward to it.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

Andrew gave a sigh of relief as he watched his friends get Walter, who was still somewhat a zombie but human at the same time. His time with his long time friends and new ones was quite extraordinary. Much like Walter, he is amongst the dead but very much alive. After helping Sora and her friend off the island, there was a part of him telling him that what he had done on the island was great. Still, he can't shake the feeling that whoever started the whole situation on Lanai wanted something more. Something was amiss but it's something that won't come and bite them for a while. For the time being, many people just wanted to talk to them, wanted autographs, and maybe a picture or two of the bunch of them. A lot of work was ahead of them.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: I'm REALLY late. I know. I'm sorry. >_< I hope this is okay. I'm willing to spend my karma and points to make this all go.

Landing had gone (relatively) smoothly, with (quite a bit more than) a few bumps ("I've REALLY never been good at parking," Mana sighed resignedly), but this time no one complained.
Kapella was the first out of the plane, closely followed by Liko and a few other men carrying the woman who had been shot. In the whole hullabaloo of getting the injured proper medical attention and the overall buzz of excitement emanating from the survivors, the soldiers almost forgot to be wary. But sooner than later, questions emerged and the atmosphere tensed.

"Mana," Jessica warned, nodding to something outside the window as they prepared to leave.
"Oh yay. More men with guns," Mana groaned. "Although, I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky that they didn't shoot us out of the air when mum did her adorable "hey, let's pretend we're aliens" thing when they radioed us."
"I was just trying to lighten the mood," said Yuki grumpily.
"We know, Yuki," Nicole said sweetly, "They probably didn't need the lecture on how to brew tea after they finally agreed to let us land, though," she added in undertone as they headed out of the plane into the sunlight.
Yuki began to mutter something in reply, but it was drowned out by the burst of applause that greeted them. Mana stood dumbstruck besides a grinning Jessica as people shuffled forward to shake her hand. A few people were even bold enough to hug her.
The excited chatter faded away however as a group of soldiers pushed their way through the throng of people surrounding the four girls.
"Are you the leader?" the tallest of them asked.
"Me?" Mana asked, gaping up at the man who stood a good head and a half taller than her. "No. I don't lead. I just fly the golf carts."
The men exchanged glances.
"Look, kid," another soldier spoke up, "I don't know what you're playing at, but this isn't the time for games."
"Excuse me," Yuki piped up angrily, "We've all just been through hell. A hell that my daughter just saved us from. So watch your attitude!"
"My apologies, Ma'am, but the situation is-"
"You should talk to Sora," Mana interrupted absentmindedly. "She seemed to be the most savvy as to what's been going on."
"Sora?" the first soldier asked.
"That semi-transparent woman over there in the kimono," Jessica said dryly, motioning towards Sora, who was taking animatedly with Hildeshimer.
"That... She's..." the soldier faltered.
"A ghost. Yeah," Mana said cheerily.
"You might as well just get used to it," Jessica said shortly. "Things will most likely only get weirder from here on in."
The soldiers hesitated for a moment before heading over to talk to Sora.
Jessica turned to face her best friend, who had her eyes closed and her face turned up towards the sun.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a smile.
"Getting my vitamin D, "Mana replied dreamily, "I feel like I haven't seen the sun in like...4 years."
"And a month," Jessica agreed.
"It looks like those soldiers weren't done with their questioning," Nicole said, gesturing to the soldiers who were walking back towards them with an apologetic looking Sora in tow.
Jessica had just let out a resigned sigh and turned to face the soldiers when, almost as if on cue, she felt Mana slump against her. Up until that point, Jessica had forgotten how tired she was. When was the last time either of them had gotten any sleep? Yuki let out a startled gasp as Jessica stumbled under Mana's weight (Mana twitched and Jessica silently retorted, "Shut up! I'm tired!!"), but before she fell a strong pair of arms caught her.
"Long night out, huh?" a familiar voice said from somewhere above her. Jessica spun around, and in her haste tripped and fell back into her father's arms.
"Dad?" she asked groggily. Someone began to pull Mana away and she held on tighter. "But you're supposed to be in San Francisco."
"I caught the first flight back I could after I heard the news," Johnathan replied. "I met Anthony at the airport. He's the reason they let me in this far."
Only then did Jessica notice that Mana's father, in full uniform, was trying to gently pry his daughter from her grasp.
"Oh! Hi, Anthony," Jessica murmured sheepishly, relenting her vice-like grip on Mana.
"Thanks for taking care of her," Anthony said with a smile, effortlessly picking up the smaller girl.
"I didn't do anything," Jessica said. "Mana was the one who saved us."
"It was a team effort," Nicole softly chimed in.
"We'll hear all about it later," Anthony said, rather loudly, "After you're all good and rested."
The soldiers, who had been lingering just outside the group, once again exchanged glances and this time headed off in Kapella's direction.
"See you later!" Sora mouthed before following the soldiers. Jessica was too tired to do anything but wave in reply.

From seemingly out of nowhere Anthony conjured a group of soldiers who began to usher them off the tarmac. Jessica vaguely remembered the swarms of press who surrounded them as they left the airport, but the soldiers with them managed to keep them at bay. In the car on the way to the hotel ("Wait, where did we get cars?" Jessica thought to herself dully) Jessica remembered that they hadn't said goodbye to their friends, but she drifted back into a blissful stupor when Johnathan assured her they they would see them later. Then they were at the hotel. Then in their rooms.
"Are you sure she doesn't need a doctor?" Anthony asked dubiously as he lay Mana down on one of the twin beds.
"She's just tired," Yuki answered gently. "We were all very lucky."
"We'll leave you girls to get some sleep," Nicole said.
"We'll be in the next room if you need anything," Johnathan added, giving his daughter's shoulder a quick squeeze. Jessica just yawned in reply.
For a moment she stared at the empty bed. Then, without a second thought, she crawled into Mana's bed.
"Dad was all in his element, huh?" Mana said suddenly, opening one eye. Jessica jumped.
"Holy...schnitzel... Mana! Don't do that!" Jessica gasped, clutching at her chest. "How long have you been awake? Wait, have you been awake from the beginning and you just didn't want to deal with stuff anymore so you pretended to pass out??"
"No, I came 'round in the car, right before we got to the hotel," Mana replied solemnly, closing her eyes. "Where did dad get cars from?" she asked, opening them again.
"That's what I said," Jessica said, settling back down beside Mana.
Mana stared up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression on her face. A moment later she frowned.
"I forgot what I was thinking about," she said.
"Good," said Jessica, "I don't want to have to think for the next 24 hours. Possibly more. As long as we wake up in time for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Captain America 2, I really don't care,"
"And this is why I love you," Mana muttered sleepily.
"Priorities, yo," Jessica replied.
"Well," Mana said, "At least one good thing resulted from this whole zombie apocalypse."
"What's that?" Jessica asked.
"We finally have something to blame our weirdness on."

The sudden burst of hysterical laughter sent both pairs of parents running for their daughters' room, but in the short time it took to reach it both of the girls were already fast asleep.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

(Late as hell, but hey - epilogue post!)

The world knew all about their escape from the island, after the myriad TV interviews. There was even a movie deal in the works. While Jimmy had initially enjoyed his newfound fame, some of the others who'd escaped with him were more traumatized and did what they could to hide from the spotlight. Eventually, the young runner realized he was hurting his new friends - people he'd been through hell with and would do anything for - and stepped back from the press.

Rooftop races didn't hold the same appeal for Jimmy, as there were few indeed who could compete with his newfound abilities. Nothing gave the same thrill anymore. The slump lasted until, quite by accident, he stumbled across a mugging on the streets of New York and foiled it handily. Anonymity was out of the question - unlike the comics, this wasn't a world where many people had unusual abilities, and thanks to the press tours his were well-known. With that in mind, and wishing to do all the good he could with his skills, young Mr. Cannon joined the NYPD, becoming the first legally recognized superpowered police officer. Many of his fellow officers viewed it as a publicity stunt, until he saved several of them during a bank robbery gone wrong. The formerly fame-centric officer shied away from the public acclaim, finding that there was always something more important for him to do than an interview.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

OOC: Alright, so it’s time to finally wrap this up since I think I’m going to start up a new game. I’ve probably got all the epilogues I’m going to get, but a couple people had e-mailed/PMed me about doing epilogues for them. So I’ll try my hand at that. First:

Naria stood out on the bow as peaceful breeze filled the sails of the chartered sailboat.

They’d have gotten here sooner if the winds were stronger, but after being trapped by a hurricane and the horrible experiences associated with being captured along with Miss Hallow Night, Naria liked it better this way.
Soon enough they approached the dock a short distance away from Miss Hallows mansion. As they pull up to it the captain tossed a rope to the fellow waiting for them on the dock.
Naria carefully stopped off the boat, wary of the injuries she’d sustained, and said “Hello Grunt! I’m glad to see you here…but how does that work with Mia?”

Grunt paused a moment

“Complicated.”

After an awkward pause he continues.
“Still a bodyguard for Mia…”

“Mia living as Hallows guest again…”

“But maybe for me…”

“Er us…”

Naria smiled. "So you and Hallow are still in love? "

He grunts in response.

At that point little Mark and Grace hopped off of the boat and ran past the both of them and up the dock toward the mansion. Since the events on the island Miss Hallow and mostly spent her time trying to master her abilities or working to sort out the mysteries of her background and why they wanted to kidnap her. Occasionally visiting the companions and friends she made on the island. But still it can be rather lonely work.

But for the moment she and Mia are getting tackle hugged by the kids they rescued when it all started.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

IC:
Daniel sat on the stairs of the house he and Royo were living in and running he school out of, looking out over the wooded valley it was above. He took a sip of his tea and smiled as he caught a glimps of her shooting from one side of the valley. It had been a while since the events on the island and the media storm that followed, but he still liked seeing her jump.

He also couldn’t help but laugh as he watched her students attempting to follow her as best they could. They were developing into decent “ninjas” when it came to freerunning, but they couldn’t even come close to keeping up with her and as usual more than a few were falling into the little river at the bottom of the valley as they tried to jump between tree branches on either side.

A voice next to Daniel says “It isn’t fair.” He turns and sees a female student of Royo’s. She’s wearing the “uniform” of the others, but has her ankle wrapped like she hurt it, which probably explains why she isn’t at practice. He really ought to be better with names by now, especially if he’s going to be good at handling the administration of the school, but he can’t remember her. He’s found just listening often alleviates the problem though, so he simply replies “what isn’t fair?”

“This school” she replies. “We all signed up because we saw what she did on live TV. Running on water, leaping up to a helicopter, and heard the stories about what she’d done on the island. But she’s got…something special and she can’t seem to teach it. None of us are doing anything superhuman at all! She just leaps, and then we stumble around until we get hurt. We’re trying hard! It isn’t fair!”

Daniel thought for a bit. “Look, she still knows what she’s teaching. All that crazy stuff she can do now? She couldn’t do any of it until just before we were rescued. All the amazing stories you hear of what she did inside the hurricane? All that was her training and bravery. And that’s what she can teach you. Will it lead to you being able to run on water? I don’t know. But don’t you want to find out? And maybe you’ll just position yourself for being able to gain abilities.”

She stares at Daniel “Position myself?”

He replies “Yeah. I mean I don’t quite get it all, but it seems like you have to be, I dunno, magically cool enough or something in order to be able to harness the supernatural stuff. Then I think you need some supernatural thing to sort it all out for you. “

She raises an eyebrow. “And when are we supposed to have something like that happen? There are just supernatural things just wandering around?”

Daniel shrugs. “Well, there are still the people back on the island. I’d advise staying away from them though. And then there’s Esipahs…he’s doing…very well. But I’m a little worried about him to. Anyway there are probably a lot of possibilities, maybe we’ll feel free to discuss them sometime, but for now some people we escaped the island with are coming for dinner and I need to get ready”. At that he escapes back into the house.

On the steps the student gives him a weird but frustrated stare and was about to bother him again, but she just mumbles “Hurmf, I bet I’m never going to get to meet anything supernatural”. He mood improves a bit when a “meow” catches her attention as Kimi comes over for attention. She picks him up at stares at the little cat “you know, you never seem to look different, are you…nahhh”. Kimi purrs.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

“Well here we go again” Petani thought to herself “Holly being the strong one and here I am, making the both of us cry.” Petani emoted a slight “sorry” to Holly. Still, at least nobody would blame them as Niu walked down the isle in her wedding dress to Richard. She looked picture perfect and that had taken a LOT of work on their part. Niu wanted her wedding to be perfect, but she was still, well, dead. Her body wasn’t decaying, and she’d developed that ability to knit together the worst of her damage. But she still had a look about her, or at least normally she did. Richard beamed at her as she approached, but he did that a lot lately, despite how…unusual their relationship was.

Which only made Petani think of Guy, sitting next to the body she and Holly shared. And that made her blush a little, or rather she made Holly blush a little. Petani still wasn’t sure how to phrase things, but she hoped that what with the previous tears nobody would be able to tell anything.

Now they were an odd couple. At first she’d felt like a relationship would be impossible or at the minimum incredibly awkward as she’d have to “hide” inside Holly’s mind while Holly tried to have a normal love life. But, well, now she was getting to like Guy too, and so they were kind of…double dating? Odd, but exciting.

She realized that they had quite the look. Richard and Niu had totally stolen Holly’s idea of having a beach wedding. Most people were dressed as lightly as they could for the occasion. But with her not quite human arms Holly was wearing full sleeves and gloves. As was Guy. He was still warm and entirely human, but his body was still covered in burns and his left hand still didn’t have all its fingers. But, Petani thought, at least he looks good in a suit. That “phantom of the Opera” outfit he’d had on back on the ship had been quite the look for him.

Petani made Holly blush a bit more and made a mental note to “talk” to Holly about it at a more opportune time.

Re: RPG: Nightmarchers

Well, especially with giving so much time for epilogues, it’s been a shocking about of time since I started this game up, but the game has completed so it’s time to lower the curtain.

While running a game here is always a little bittersweet because of player churn, I had a great time with this game and would like to thank everyone that participated. This game demonstrated the wide variety of reactions that I’ve really only found here on Anime Forum. Certainly not on the tabletop for this sort of material!

I was thinking about giving shout outs to individual players for their performances, but you’ve got your PMs from me, and that would be a long list  Similarly those of you that stuck around and escaped have your epilogues above. Of course if you happen to be reading this and your character didn’t get an epilogue you might well still have gotten out. A number of characters got pulled out by other player’s characters, even after their players left. And for the others, well, you never know (and maybe we could work something out. I guess I never completely give up on a character :P )

So what I would like to give a special shout out to are the players who had characters that died, when they didn’t want them to get killed, and who kept playing afterwards. The game was meant to be genuinely dangerous and if you tempt fate enough eventually the dice hand out ruptured organs or torn throats. So your tenacity is appreciated @Light Buster @Dr. Hax @Hallow Ichigo @Esiphas @-GAZKUL-

Similarly I’ll give some props to some players that kept going despite some very nasty wounds on their mortal forms for a while that limited what they could do for a fair while.
@Kaname Shikara (Who also suffered her doggie getting killed) @Luka Megurine

Of course to the varying degrees that they’ve participated I’ve really enjoyed pretty much all the different players (even some who barely made it out of the sign in process). And I remember more than you might expect…despite most of you changing your usernames all the time.

Finally, since it’s usually a thankless job I’d like to remember the mods, who keep the board de-spammed and are there if you need them. @LadyPSerenity and @Ωmega